Mukhtara Ayọtẹjú Adékúnbi Yusuf (they/them) is a conceptual artist, theoretical researcher and decolonial designer from Ibadan, Nigeria. Their work spans from architectural and spatial design, to textile and fashion; exploring body, lived environment, and built environment as interactive scales of space.

Deeply committed to the dissemination of decolonial, indigenous, and healing knowledge production, Mukhtara is the founding director of Ilẹ̀ a design lab and studio based in Lagos, Nigeria, and they recently served as a visiting assistant professor at NYU Tandon’s Integrated Design and Media program.

Mukhtara is a member of the Indigelab Network, a network of global indigenous scholars and artists focuses on how Indigenous-led research collectives work and make change. Mukhtara is the lead facilitator of Indigelab’s Indigenous Art as Method Working group, which explores critical questions such as: how do we conceptualize and define indigenous art and  what methods exist and/or can be cultivated to support indigenous arts as legible technologies.

With a passion for tricksterism and non-duality, Mukhtara creates at epistemological cross-roads muddying binaries between science and the spiritual, conceptually centering ‘indigenous technology’ and ‘neo-animism’ in their design and research practice.

Trauma- informed collective healing and internal/external ‘re-pairing’ of covenants broken by colonialism are Yusuf’s core pedagogical motivations.

Mukhtara holds a BA from Dartmouth College, an MA in Communications and Media from UCSD and an MFA in Design from UT Austin where they minored in Archietcture. They hold certifications/trainings in Somatic Abolitionism and Healthy Materials.

They have been an invited speaker at Stanford University, the Blanton Museum, and the Fakugesi Innovation Festival. Mukhtara has shared the stage with artists such as Questlove of the Roots Crew and DCs Mambo Sauce. Mukhtara has been featured in HBOs Brave New Voices, UNESCOs Women in African History Project, and at the John F Kennedy Center for Performing Arts.